Emotional and behavioral effects of anorexia

In addition to the depression, irritability, and bad memory noted in Brain and Nerves in the diagram above, the following emotional and behavioral effects of anorexia can occur:

• Difficulty in concentrating on anything else except weight
• Isolation from family and friends
• Emotionally going back to a child-like state
• Feelings of guilt
• Dependence upon alcohol or drugs to handle the negative outlook

Parents and siblings may try to arrange the kitchen and their eating habits to accommodate the person with the eating disorder. It doesn't work, and everyone else becomes resentful that they can't eat what they want, when they want it.
Sometimes an eating disorder appears after parents have separated or divorced. In those cases, parents may blame each other vociferously and bitterly, driving themselves even further apart. In other cases, the stress of caring for a child with an eating disorder creates or exposes problems in the marriage and makes them worse, sometimes leading to divorce or separation.